Let Me Be The One You Need

May not know enough about you, babe
That can only come in time
Only know enough to make you stay
On my mind

Though I met you only yesterday
And only for a moment then
I knew I couldn't let you get away
I just have to see you again

I can be the one you love
Let me be the one you need
Take a look into your heart
Try to find a place for me

Can't say I can't live without you, babe
That's just some worn out loser's line
May not know enough about you, babe
But you’ve stayed on my mind

I can be the one you love
Let me be the one you need
Take a look into your heart
Try to find a place for me

-Bill Withers

Ev Oida Oti Oudev Oida

After Socrates had explained these things to the student, the student nodded and declared, “I see!” Socrates responded, “When I look back on all I have seen, the one thing I see is that I’ve seen nothing.”

While I don’t have the original source on hand, this is basically the scene from whence the title of this blog comes. It loses a little in translation, especially considering the context of Platonic thought in which the only way we can know something is by seeing it as it truly is. (Nothing Socrates might have written has survived, and most of what we know of him comes from the works of Plato.)

As I get older, I find more and more how true it is that I don’t know anything at all, and perhaps I know myself least of all. I don’t trust anybody who thinks they have learned anything by sheer virtue of getting older. I feel sorry for anybody that thinks they have anything figured out, because they are truly missing out on the wonderful mysteries of life waiting to be discovered by anybody bold enough to look for them. I find it frustrating that people generally are not interested in seeking knowledge beyond what they are comfortable with believing. There is nothing more inspiring than challenging our own beliefs and finding how limiting they are.

I am constantly amazed at what can be learned from participating in random life experiences. I never cease to be surprised by my own choices, desires, obsessions and preferences. There are infinite journeys to take and avenues to explore. Don’t just push your boundaries; blow them up! Life is curious. Life is weird. Life is one big question mark. Live it up!

Porcelina of the Vast Oceans

as far as you take me, that's where I believe
the realm of soft delusions, floating on the leaves
on a distant shoreline, she waves her arms to me
as all the thought police, are closing in for sleep
the dilly dally, of my bright lit stay
the steam of my misfortunes
has given me the power to be afraid
and in my mind i'm everyone
and in my mind

without a care in this whole world
without a care in this whole world
without a care in this life
it's what you take that makes it right

porcelina of the oceans blue
porcelina, porcelina

in the slipstream, of thoughtless thoughts
the light of all that's good, the light of all that's true
to the fringes gladly, I walk unadorned
with gods and their creations
with filth and disease
porcelina, she waits for me there
with seashell hissing lullabies
and whispers fathomed deep inside my own
hidden thoughts and alibis
my secret thoughts come alive

without a care in this whole world
without a care in this whole world
without a care in this life
it's what you take that makes it right

and in my mind i'm everyone
in my mind i'm everyone
in my mind i'm everyone of you
you make it right
it's all alright
you make it right

porcelina of the oceans blue
porcelina of the oceans blue

- Billy Corgan

Les Paul

The first time I heard Les Paul and Mary Ford I just about shit my pants. This was a music I had never heard before. The recording quality was stupendous, the melodic lines clean yet profound, the tone unsurpassed. Everything about the music was cleverly calculated but refreshingly charming. This was white people music (something I generally avoided at the time) except with soul. I first heard it in 1995. The music was from as early as 1947. To this day, I’ve still never heard anything else like Les Paul’s music, which is inexplicable considering the influence (which includes the invention of multi-track recording and the modern electric guitar) that he has had on modern music. It’s as if everybody since has been futilely trying to copy him. Although, truth be told, a lot of his guitar lines are Django Reinhardt rip-offs.